Justin Lewis is the dad of a child with autism, and a firefighter in Golder Ranch, Arizona. Because of both roles, Justin became concerned with the number of children wandering away from a safe environment (50% for children with autism), and the number of deaths of kids with autism that were attributed to drowning (91% […]
Mary’s Pizza Shack in Northern California has begun offering “sensory friendly” kits to customers. The kits, which were first announced in April, are part of a joint initiative with Anova, a local non-profit autism services organization. Anova reached out to other Sonoma-based restaurants, and Mary’s was the first chain to express interest. Mike Clark, the manager of the […]
Heather Nelson, her husband Colin, and her two sons live right along a major road in Rockland, Maine, that’s currently undergoing a complete overhaul. It’s been big inconvenience for many commuters who travel the road daily, including Colin. One day, when her husband was stuck for an hour about five minutes from home because of […]
For many of us, Disney animated films are just entertainment. But for the Suskind family, these films are much, much more. After all, it was through these films that their son Owen learned to relate to the world around him and make sense of it after autism took him away. And it was through these […]
According to many military parents, the U.S. Department of Defense isn’t the most progressive employer. Some parents of military dependents with autism—said to number 23,000—have been trying to find services for those dependents for years. Others have found amazing services for their children, only to lose them when they’ve gotten reassigned to another base and […]
Pro golfer Ernie Els was used to the nagging voice in his head, especially as he was lining up his shots during tournaments. But he wasn’t used to hearing it in his personal life, until his son Ben was born. Ben was slow to hit his development milestones and never met Ernie’s gaze, and he […]
Without much fanfare, the National Autistic Society of the U.K. just honored The Gate in Islington, England, with the society’s first-ever “Autism Friendly” award given to a restaurant. The Gate, a vegetarian restaurant, has been in business since 1989 and has locations in both Islington and Hammersmith—suburbs of London. The Gate in Islington has been […]
Many people swear that Disney World is the most magical place on earth, and for one little boy and his mom last month, it proved to be just that. Two-year-old Jackson Coley was diagnosed with non-verbal autism about two weeks before the Coley family went on a trip to Disney World. Jackson’s mom, Amanda Coley, […]
As a follow-up to our story two weeks ago, “This 6-Year-Old Boy Reads to Shelter Dogs,” we wanted to let you know the fantastic news: Pirate the Pit Bull has gotten adopted! As we mentioned previously, 6-year-old Jacob Tumalan has been reading to Pirate for months as part of the “Rescue Readers” shelter program. It helps […]
11 Things We Can’t Do Without Over a Three-Day Weekend Click To Tweet With the three-day weekend upon those of us in the U.S. and the U.K., we thought it would be fun to reach out to some of our contributors and ask them what is the one thing they absolutely couldn’t do without over […]